By 1951, South Africa's shilling was already living on borrowed time. The Union had been debating decimalization since the late 1940s, and the switch that would eventually kill the shilling came in 1961 with the introduction of the rand. These final two years of George VI shillings — struck just before the king's death in February 1952 — represent the tail end of a coinage type that had run in essentially the same format since 1923.
The .500 fineness had been adopted in 1948, halving the silver content from the previous .800 standard as postwar metal economics made the richer alloy unsustainable.
By 1951, South Africa's shilling was already living on borrowed time. The Union had been debating decimalization since the late 1940s, and the switch that would eventually kill the shilling came in 1961 with the introduction of the rand. These final two years of George VI shillings — struck just before the king's death in February 1952 — represent the tail end of a coinage type that had run in essentially the same format since 1923.
The .500 fineness had been adopted in 1948, halving the silver content from the previous .800 standard as postwar metal economics made the richer alloy unsustainable.